Content
Currant is one of the most common and favorite berry crops planted by summer residents and gardeners on their plots. Shrubs are unpretentious to care for, undemanding to weather and soil conditions. Moth on currants is considered one of the most dangerous pests that can cause serious damage to plants.
Signs of a currant moth
Moth butterflies are small in size. Their maximum body length reaches 3 cm. These insects can be identified by the color of their wings. The upper pair is gray in color, with several dark spots and light longitudinal stripes, and the lower pair is dark gray, with a fringe located along the edges.
Moth caterpillars have a black head and a green body. They suck the juice of the berries, destroying them and entangling the clusters with cobwebs.
The life span of caterpillars is no more than 30 days. Before the onset of winter, they descend from the bush on a cobweb, pupate and settle for the winter in a layer of fallen leaves or, burrowing in the upper soil layer at a depth not exceeding 4 cm, right under a currant bush. Butterflies appear from pupae before the appearance of flower buds. After 7 days, they will start laying eggs in full blooming flowers.
Firefly on currant bushes is easy to identify by the main features:
- the appearance of a spider web, twisting branches, as well as healthy and dry berries;
- change in the color of berries;
- the presence of side holes on the fruit, with a cobweb passing through them;
- detection of caterpillars by carefully examining shrubs using a magnifying glass.
If one or more of these signs are present, gardeners should take a number of measures aimed at protecting fruit shrubs and eliminating uninvited pests.
In the photo you can see one of the main signs of the negative impact of the moth on the currant:
What is dangerous for currant moth
The moth caterpillars are dangerous for their gluttony. They eat up the pulp and seeds of berries, moving from one to another, entangling them with a thin web. Cocoons are formed on the bushes, combining 10 - 12 good and already spoiled berries, which rot and gradually dry out. In the center of such cocoons, which are usually located in the largest berry, there is the caterpillar itself.
If protective measures are not taken in time, the consequences of a negative impact on currant crops may be irreparable.
Remedies for moths on currants
The moth prefers mainly red currants, on black - it appears less often. To get rid of red currant moths, gardeners use various pest control measures. They differ in the degree of effectiveness and depend on how badly the bushes are damaged and in what period of time protective actions are taken.
Chemical
Preparations that include chemicals in the composition, compared with folk remedies, are much more effective in destroying the fire and allow you to quickly get rid of this pest. But it is not safe to use these compounds while the caterpillars are eating berries. It is recommended to use chemical agents to kill moth pupae during early spring and before winter.
Pesticides can harm the plants themselves and the surrounding nature. It is not recommended to use such products during the growing season of plants. One treatment with chemicals is enough due to their effectiveness. After spraying the shrubs, the pest-destroying effect will persist for 2 weeks, provided there is no rainfall.
Experts advise using the treatment of currant bushes with modern pesticides of biological origin as an analogue of chemical agents. They do not destroy the moth so quickly, but the poisonous components do not linger in the soil and do not poison plant tissues.
Biological
In the fight against moths, you can use biological methods to destroy them. Natural enemies of pest butterflies - other insects, fungi, viruses and bacteria can do a good job and help protect the currant crop from destruction.
Such methods are characterized by narrow selectivity and do not pose a danger to people and the environment. In some cases, biological methods are more effective than the use of chemicals.
The parasitic fungus (pink muscardine) appears in conditions of heavy rainfall and has a destructive effect on the development of moth butterflies. The number of these pests is destroyed by insects such as wasp's, belonging to the brachonid family, as well as tahini flies.
During the period when moths lay eggs, it is useful to populate currant bushes with small insects - trichograms. They destroy the surface of the shell and attach themselves to newborn caterpillars, parasitizing on them.
Natural opponents of the moth, helping to reduce its number, are ground beetles - beetles of the Coleoptera squad.
Folk
These methods are time-tested and involve the use of simple and affordable means in the fight against moth at the initial stage of damage to shrubs. Currant processing is carried out by spraying or root watering once a week:
- Pyrethrum. The Dolmat chamomile variety in the form of a dry powder is sprayed on the surface of currant bushes and adjacent soil using a fine sieve. Some gardeners advise adding road dust to feverfew.
- Pharmacy chamomile. The infusion is prepared from 50 g of flowers and 5 liters of water. The container is covered with a lid and wrapped in a towel. The cooled agent is sprayed with currants for prophylaxis during the onset of flowering and the appearance of moth butterflies.
- Mustard. To prepare an aqueous solution, 50 g of dry mustard is diluted in 5 liters of water and insisted for 3 days. Mustard powder can be sprayed dry over plants. The fruits are covered with a pungent, bitter powder, which makes them inedible for caterpillars.
- Tobacco-wormwood tincture. For its preparation, 200 g of a mixture of tobacco powder and wormwood herb is diluted in 5 liters of warm water and insisted for 2 days. The volume is brought to 10 liters, and then 40 g of grated laundry soap is added in order for the composition to better adhere to the branches and currant fruits.
- Wood ash. In dry form, the product is sprayed over the bushes, which prevents caterpillars from eating the fruit. For foliar bait, 1/3 of the bucket is filled with ash, filled with 2/3 water, mixed and infused for 3 days. The composition is filtered, 30 g of laundry soap is added and an effective anti-moth agent is obtained.
- Coniferous concentrate. 4 tbsp. l. the funds are diluted in a bucket of water, mixed and treated with shrubs during the entire flowering period.
Soda solution copes well with fire. Processing currant bushes in the evening will scare away nocturnal butterflies.
Agrotechnical measures
Weak and damaged bushes are more quickly attacked by the pest. To prevent their death, you should follow the basic rules for the care and processing of currant bushes.Some agrotechnical techniques will help to destroy the moth at different stages of its development:
- Digging the soil. Caterpillars, having reached the maturation stage, leave the bushes for pupation and wintering in the surface layer of the soil. If, before the onset of frost, you dig up the ground under the bushes at a distance of 40 cm from the trunks, the pupae will fall to the surface and freeze in winter. The soil should be dug to a depth of no more than 5 cm so as not to damage the root system of plants in the immediate vicinity of the surface.
- Hilling. Pupae are buried for wintering in the ground near the trunk of the bush. To prevent the moth to attack the currant with the onset of summer, in order to prevent the plant, it is necessary to spud it in the fall. To do this, in September - October, they loosen the ground near the bushes and cover it with a slide reaching a height of 10 cm. With the onset of spring, the pupae will turn into butterflies, which will not be able to overcome such a layer of soil and lay eggs.
- Mulching. Compost or peat in a layer of 10 cm at a distance of 40 cm from the trunk will also prevent butterflies from getting out of the ground after wintering. Shrubs mulch in early spring. After the fruits are fully ripe, the mulch is removed. As a barrier to the emergence of butterflies from the ground in the spring, you can use roofing material, laying it in the near-trunk circle so that the sheets fit snugly against the trunks of shrubs.
- Removal of damaged fruits. If the scale of the moth infestation is small, the treatment of currant bushes is carried out "mechanically" - the berries spoiled by caterpillars are collected by hand. The fruits must be destroyed by pouring boiling water over them. This procedure will help protect healthy berries.
Each gardener can choose the most appropriate way to deal with moths, based on their physical, financial and temporal capabilities.
How to deal with a moth on a currant
To effectively deal with red currant moth, it is necessary to take into account the period of time during which plants and soil should be processed. There are two main periods of currant development - before and after flowering.
Before flowering
An effective means of combating moths is the treatment of currant bushes with boiling water. This procedure will strengthen the growing berry culture. It is advisable to tie the branches of the bushes together. Hot water can be poured over them only in a state of hibernation, during a period when the first buds have not yet formed.
After a week of planting, currants are sprayed with any inexpensive insecticides. Before flowering, it is useful to treat shrubs with 0.5% Kinmix or 1% Iskra M.
After flowering
For processing currants during development and finding caterpillars in the ovary, it is recommended to use contact insecticides - Tiovit Jet, Rovikurt, Kilzar. These drugs have worked well. After processing the plants, it is necessary to withstand a minimum waiting period of 20 days. Only after that, the berries can be eaten, after thoroughly washing out.
A photo of a moth butterfly on a currant will help to accurately identify pests and, in a short time, choose the most suitable and effective way to combat them.
Preventive actions
Knowledge of the characteristics of their life cycle and natural factors will help gardeners in the destruction of moths. So, in the summer heat, the moth caterpillars do not have time to dig into the upper layers of the soil and die. The air temperature does not depend on the person, but some other measures can be taken to protect the currants from the pest.
Regular walking and checking of bushes will help to notice signs of insects in time, as well as destroy caterpillars and fruits damaged by them. Timely cleaning of shrubs will save plantings from pest attacks. It is recommended to check other crops growing in the same area.Raspberry and gooseberry bushes are very loved by the moth and can provoke the spread of the pest and its appearance on the currant.
Conclusion
The currant fire gives gardeners and summer residents a lot of difficulties, worries and troubles. But in the case of timely detection of signs of the appearance of a pest butterfly and a comprehensive implementation of protective measures, it is possible to save the crop from death. When choosing the most effective way to deal with a fire, do not forget that chemical methods are as effective as they are dangerous for the environment. You should resort to them only in extreme cases, when the area of damage by the moth is extensive or the butterflies reproduce too intensively.
